Everyone’s Favorite Glucose Tolerance Test

Being that I’m now in my 26th week the time had come for every pregnant woman’s favorite prenatal test, the glucose tolerance test. Lucky me! When I had the test done during my pregnancy with Maya I failed (just barely) the 1 hour screening and had to go in for the dreaded 3 hour test, which I thankfully passed. So, this time around I was a little more nervous. I knew what to expect. I remembered the foul taste of that glucose drink. I remembered the waiting. I remembered how much it sucked to hear from my doctor a few days later that I would have to do it all over again.

This time around I’m hoping I pass this first 1 hour test so I don’t have to suffer through the 3 hour test again. Fingers crossed.

I went in this morning for the test. I had to go to a testing facility here in Brisbane, similar to the testing facilities, like LabCorp, that we have in the United States. I met Lorne at his office building and he took Maya to the park for an hour while I headed to the lab for the test. The staff at the lab were super friendly and helpful. A change from most of my experiences at similar labs in St. Louis. They gave me my drink and told me to drink it all within 10 and they’d come back to get in 1 hour for my blood draw.

When I had the test done during my pregnancy with Maya the drink I had to drink was a super sweet, overly flavored, flat orange drink. It tasted like orange soda but without the fizziness. I remember thinking at the time that the drink would be so much easier to drink if it was carbonated, just a bit. The drink I had today was so much better. I wouldn’t exactly call it tasty, but it was certainly a lot better than my previous glucose drinks. This one was lightly carbonated for starters, and I was right, it made it much easier to get down. It was still crazy sweet, but the flavor was much more mild, another thing in its favor. It was easy to get the drink down in the alloted time and I didn’t feel like I was going to throw up right after.

I passed the 1 hour quietly reading in the waiting room. Finally I was called back for my blood draw. Blood draws don’t bother me so that part was a breeze. I chatted with the phlebotomist while she took the required 3 viles of blood for my glucose test and a couple of other screenings being done. It was a pleasant experience for a test that isn’t really my favorite thing to do during pregnancy.

Now I wait, fingers crossed, for the results. Hopefully I don’t hear from my doctor at all and am told at my next appointment in a couple of weeks that I passed the test just fine. If I do hear from him and have to go in for that 3 hour test I may cry. At least I know if I have to do it again the drink is more tolerable this time and the staff at the lab is pleasant to deal with.